IS 0 9 HE l\. T" E J ," - . , fJ\.1 I \, . ' \ o, 'J't 1 , \ $ J1" )\ , NOT LACKING GALL "\( Tr E "''- . t. / ï "' - .. - T ONY RICHARDSON'S production of "Hamlet," at the Lunt-Fon- tanne, is a curiosity-vivid, ro- bust, and unconvincing. It keeps call- ing attention to jtself in a way that pretends to be in order to 1llul11inate the text hut, more often than not, casts a fatal shadow of showing off over lines and SCenes that, after three centuries, have no need of being tal11pered with and disÏ111proved. It is true that in some cases the curiosity of the production is greater than Mr Richardson can have intended; the deplorable electronic sound effects, for exal11ple, which take the place of a visible actor playing Hal11let's father's ghost and which sound like nothing so l11uch as dive- bOl11hers OUt of the Second World War, ha ve to compete with, and frOl11 tÎ111e to tÏ111e are upstaged by, the theatre's ex- ceptionally noisv air-conditioning equip- l11ent. (There is sOI11ething to be said for a technologically prÏ111itive theatre. Unlike the Lunt-F ontanne, Shake- speare's Globe was air-conditioned by God, who, in a rainy clÏ111ate, l11USt have had His problel11s, but at least would have resolved thel11 quietly, quietly. And the Ghost in "Hal11let" that Elizabethan audiences were privi- leged to behold is said to have been embodied not by tweeters and woofers but by Shakespeare hÏ111self.) In other cases, the curiosity of the produc- tion appears calculated to the point of open self-congratulatIon. For Mr. Rjchardson is, in the Jack Horner sense, all thul11bs, and his claÏ111 to being a smart boy leaps with endearing obviousness straight frol11 the heart. He likes taking long, prankish chances, and since his purpose in doing so is often simply to be outrageous, we run the risk of cOl11plÎ111enting him when we accuse hÎ111 of tastelessness. It is his fancy here to l11ake the rela- tionship between Laertes and Ophel- ia flagrantly incestuous (and to dÎ111in- ish in proportIon the conventional strong note of Incest between Hal11let and his mother). As Laertes, el11bark- ing for France, urges his sister to be chaste In her relations with Hal11let, Ophelia snuggles sexily in his lap and displays In a gravIty-defying décol- lete her superb bOSOI11; when Ophel- ia's turn comes to warn Laertes against the prÏ111rose path of dalliance, we observe her hand taking a rel11ark- able libert) with his person. We get Mr. Richardson's point, such as it js, but at high cost to the rest of the play: Ophelia's el11brace of bawdry in l11adness loses l11uch of its poign- ancy if she was but a bawd to begin with. The I110St striking curiosity of this production is, of course, Nicol William- son's perforl11ance in the title role. Mr. \Villial11son has publicly pronounced hÏ111self the greatest actor of the day, and l11any students of the stage are ready to agree with hÏ111 ; certainly his perforl11ance in John Osborne's "lnadl11issible Evidence" was a stun- ning del11onstration of seel11ingly un- lÏ111ited talent and technique, especial- I} in one so young-Mr. ,^Yillial11son, though he often looks forty, and on his off days could pass for eigh ty, is, in fact, thirty. HIs Hal11let is not the great .. ,. \ \\ ^,', \:' , ' \ ,, \ '\ '> ' "".,. . \ , .. . Ø'/"'*' . F. _ , " , _ , J \ '. {' ì :tJ J f --- -- ", l' l ! \ ; !\ V,- o!"* ...:.-.."Þ..; .- '!:;' --"" """ 'i >""^, ,O' - Î *.;... ........ #4 .,.. ;:. =--- '"' .-/ \N " \i " 121 event I had been looking forward to, in part because he shares with his di- rector a weakness for the predictably perverse, the l11erely l11arvellous. He has chosen to offer us a Hal111et who, far frol11 being a Sweet prince, is a petulant peasant, speaking a spiteful, brutish tongue and striking a succes- sion of cringing caitiff poses. Shake- speare's Hal111et IS a royal whiner, singing arias of sublime self-pity; Wi1- lial11son's Hal11let is a born outsider and a horn loser, and even if SOI11e- thing had not heen rotten in the state of Denl11ark he would never have known a happv day. (I 111 ust l11en tion ho"",y l11uch I adn1Ired Willial11son's old-fashioned handling of the solilo- quies-spoken downstage, In a loud voice, his eyes continuously holding us in their gaze, and with no silly pre- tense that we were sÏ111ply overhearing his unspoken thoughts.) This reading of Hal111et as a paranoid l11isfit gravely dÏ111inishes the height and breadth of the play; it has as we}] the unlucky effect of l11aking Claudius Jess villain- ous than he is l11eant to be. "0, l11Y offense is rank, it sl11ells to heaven," but so does everything else in Elsinore, and we begin to suspect that the senior Hal11let was no better than he should ha ve heen, presiding as he did with \ \ 1 } I , 1 , 4\ '1 . ---..,.. ..---. " ... I \ 1 r. Drunk zn Broad Daylight